Blue Moon (Colors of the Moon #1)

Chapter 22

I took one last glance at the bulk in my bed and made sure Aiko hadn't moved even an inch. She was still peacefully asleep, oblivious to the fact that I wasn't there anymore.

I closed the bedroom door with a silent click and tiptoed my way down the dark hallway. When I passed by Jared's door, I made especially sure not to make a single floorboard creek. The last thing I wanted was to wake him up and demand for me to return to my bedroom.

Only once I reached the staircase did I allow my lungs to take in a deep breath. It was, after all, almost two in the morning; a time when I was supposed to be deaf to the world. The memory of the red color smeared across the bedsheet and the torn clothes, however, refused to allow me to rest.

Luckily, Aiko had been already munching on her breakfast, so by the time she returned to the bedroom, I had already removed the evidence. So, as far as she knew, no one but the two of us knew about our father and cousin's true occupation.

But I knew the truth. This was exactly why I was unable to fall asleep even after three hours of staring at the ceiling. My brain was too busy trying to decide on what to do. Should we stay or leave? And if we decided to leave, where would we go? Our home wasn't safe, and we didn't have any noteworthy money of our own...

These were the questions that played inside my mind on a loop, yet I still wasn't able to answer any of them.

Back in the darkness of the night, I expected to find the first floor just as lifeless as the rest of the house. The moment I rounded the last flight of stairs, however, I discovered that the dining room door was wide open and had a bright light blazing from the inside.

I tiptoed to the edge of the doorway and peeked inside. The normally empty long table was crumbling under the weight of countless glass bottles. At least fifty bottles of different shapes and sizes, and filled with liquids of every imaginable color, were spread over half of the table.

The culprit behind the mess was a young woman around my age, who was standing next to the table. I recognized her the second I laid my eyes on her strong eyebrows. I had, after all, met her only a day ago.

"Sasha?"

"Naia?" Sasha snapped her head in my direction, while her hand froze in a hoovering position above a small violet pouch. "What are you doing here?"

For a second I wondered how I could explain the drama series that was the reason for my presence here. "I'm kind of the Luna."

"You're the Luna? Really? I don't think I've ever heard of a human Luna? Then again, I haven't spent much time around werewolves either."

"What are you doing here?" I took a step away from the wall I had been peeking around, but remained close to the open doorway.

"I'm wondering that myself. I'm supposedly Dyson's mate."

"Dyson? Tall, dark skin, muscular, mostly quiet?"

"Yes, that's him."

"I didn't know he found his mate." I made a mental note to ask him about it. "But it's good news. He deserves to have a mate of his own."

"If you say so." She shrugged and lowered her hand onto the pouch. "Until now he's been mostly distant. Then again, we don't know each other."

"Give him some time." I slowly walked deeper into the room and stopped behind Jared's chair at the head of the table. "Is that the pouch you were looking for?"

"Yes, it's also how I met Dyson. The guy you asked to help me was escorting me out of the building, when Dyson popped up in front of us. You should have seen his eyes. Pure black..."